Buyout Acquisitions in 2015

B12 Capital Partners has acquired Diamond Coach, a U.S.-based manufacturer of mid-sized passenger coaches headquartered in Oswego, Kansas. ClearRidge advised the owners on the sale; B12 was selected for its industry experience and alignment on growth strategy for the company.

Kaplan, Inc., the global education services subsidiary of Graham Holdings, acquired SmartPros, Ltd., a provider of accredited professional education, subscription course libraries and proprietary LMS/AMS software. The deal (reported at about $16.9 million) folds SmartPros into Kaplan Professional Education to expand Kaplan’s accountancy, financial services and compliance training capabilities.

Cooke Seafood Group (through its U.S. affiliate Cooke Seafood USA, Inc.) submitted an offer to acquire 100% of the assets of Uruguayan seafood processor Fripur S.A. The bid, announced in December 2015, is being advised by Antarctica Advisors and aims to preserve operations and workers while expanding Cooke's global processing and distribution footprint.

Anheuser-Busch announced an agreement to acquire Four Peaks Brewing Company, a leading craft brewery based in Tempe, Arizona, to join its The High End craft business unit. The deal brings Four Peaks' brewpubs and statewide distribution into Anheuser-Busch's craft portfolio; terms were not disclosed and the acquisition was expected to close in early 2016.

Frisco, Texas-based Chronos Solutions has agreed to acquire Cogent Road, a San Diego-based mortgage technology company, to expand Chronos' origination product suite and add over 300 customers and mortgage technology talent. Financial terms were not disclosed; the deal will allow Chronos to integrate Cogent Road's Funding Suite, Tax Door and Roohmz LOS into its end-to-end origination services and establish a mortgage technology lab in San Diego.

Nimes Capital has agreed to acquire Togo's Sandwiches, with growth equity firm Mainsail Partners selling its ownership stake. CEO Tony Gioia will retain an ownership stake and remain CEO as Nimes provides strategic guidance to support the brand's revitalization and expansion; Togo's operates roughly 251 restaurants across six western U.S. states.

Sharps Compliance Corp. acquired Bio-Team Mobile LLC, a route-based medical waste pick-up provider serving Pennsylvania and Maryland, to expand its Northeast route-based services and complement its mail-back solutions. The acquisition supports Sharps' strategy to establish a Northeast operation and enhance direct servicing capabilities for healthcare customers in the region.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) acquired Centennial Insurance Agency, LLC, a Pueblo, Colorado-based retail insurance broker founded in 1982 that provides commercial property/casualty, risk management consulting and personal lines across the Western United States. The Centennial leadership team (Mark Swanson, David Swanson, Doug Helzer and Tom Ratzlaff) will continue to operate in their Colorado and New Mexico locations as part of Gallagher's Western region retail property/casualty brokerage operations. Terms were not disclosed.

EQT Mid Market has agreed to partner with management to acquire FocusVision, a provider of technology-enabled quantitative and qualitative market research solutions. EQT plans to support FocusVision’s domestic and international growth via investments in sales, product innovation, acquisitive growth and platform integration; FocusVision is headquartered in Connecticut with more than 300 employees and offices worldwide.

Chesterfield, Missouri-based Manna Pro Products LLC has acquired Nutri-Vet LLC of Boise, Idaho, along with the Petnology Essentials product line from 21st Century HealthCare Inc. The deals expand Manna Pro's portfolio into the cat and dog supplement market, with the acquired brands operating together as Nutri-Vet Wellness LLC; terms were not disclosed.

Data Strategy has acquired boice.net and finalized a merger to create one of the Midwest's largest datacenter consulting organizations. The combined company will operate from six offices across four states (headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan), expand managed services (including a 24x7x365 NOC), and broaden capabilities across cloud, security, storage and infrastructure with roughly 200 employees and sharpened vertical focus across government, education, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and retail.

Courion, an identity governance and administration (IGA) provider, acquired Core Security, a vulnerability management and attack intelligence company, to combine identity and vulnerability intelligence into an integrated Vulnerability and Risk Management (VRM) solution. The deal brings together Courion's IGA capabilities with Core Security's analytics-driven attack intelligence to provide customers a more comprehensive view of attack surface, detection and remediation.

Heartland Equity Partners has acquired a majority stake in Cass Screw Machine Products, a 70-year-old precision machining company based in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The transaction enabled a retirement/ownership transition for the Greenwald family while supporting immediate expansion plans — Cass retained all 127 employees and began a 26,000 sq. ft. facility addition to expand machining and shipping capacity.

An affiliate of D'Orazio Capital Partners and F.N.B. Capital Partners acquired Red Head Brass, LLC, a Shreve, Ohio-based manufacturer of couplings and fittings for the firefighting, industrial and oil & gas markets. Red Head Brass was a portfolio company of Guard Hill Holdings; the buyers said they will partner with management to support the company's growth.

ATI Physical Therapy announced that Attain Therapy + Fitness has joined the ATI organization, adding 10 outpatient physical therapy clinics in the Springfield, Massachusetts area. The acquisition brings Attain's specialized hand therapy, sports and fitness training, and programs for at-risk populations into ATI's national footprint; BellMark Partners advised Attain on the partnership.

Woodruff Sawyer, a San Francisco–based insurance brokerage, will acquire Capstone Insurance, LLC of Boston, Massachusetts to expand its geographic presence and capabilities. Capstone’s principals — Matt Field, Sean Coady and Dan McMullen — will lead the Boston office through the transition; the deal is expected to close by year-end.

Enghouse Systems Limited has completed the acquisition of CTI Group (Holdings) Inc. for U$0.61 per share, representing a 76% premium to the prior closing price. CTI, an Indianapolis-headquartered provider of carrier-grade analytics, call recording and enterprise communications management software, will complement Enghouse's telecommunications operator solutions; Cherry Tree acted as advisor to CTI's board.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquired McPherson Benefits Group, a Madison, Mississippi-based employee benefits consulting and brokerage firm. The acquisition strengthens Gallagher's South Central employee benefits operations and expands its presence in Mississippi; terms were not disclosed.

ParkerGale has completed a buyout of OnePlus Corporation, acquiring the IoT waste-monitoring company from its founder and making it the firm’s second investment from its new fund. OnePlus provides patented sensors and software that alert waste haulers and property owners when industrial compactors are full; ParkerGale plans to invest in people, systems, product development and M&A to expand the business.

Welltok, the operator of the CafeWell health optimization platform, acquired Silverlink, a healthcare consumer communications company, to extend its multi-channel consumer engagement and targeted outreach capabilities. The acquisition was supported by $45 million in new funding led by Georgian Partners, EDBI and Flare Capital Partners to support the purchase, product development and market expansion.

Emtec, Inc. has acquired Summit Technology, Inc., a healthcare-focused consulting and managed services firm based in Athens, Alabama that specializes in Oracle HCM, ERP and Cloud applications. Summit's management and team will join Emtec's Global Services group to expand Emtec's Oracle application capabilities and deepen its presence in the healthcare market.

Riveria Investment Group and Gibson Investment Group have acquired IQ Logic, a managed content and document services provider headquartered in Irvine, California. The investment partners said they will support IQ Logic's growth plans and expand the company's footprint and service offerings in the managed content and document services market.

All Risks Ltd. has acquired Specialty Risk Underwriters, a St. Petersburg, Florida-based national program administrator specializing in accident insurance and comprehensive packages for sports organizations, schools, colleges, camps and special events. The founders, Kent and JoAnna Lynch, joined All Risks’ Alive Risk division and will operate from the St. Petersburg office; terms were not disclosed.

SolutionsIQ has acquired Davisbase Consulting, an Agile and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) services firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina, to extend its national footprint and large-scale Agile adoption capabilities. The deal expands SolutionsIQ's southeast and southwest presence and combines teams to create a larger pure-play Agile consultancy serving Fortune 500 clients across financial, healthcare and logistics industries.

Delphi Automotive PLC has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Control-Tec LLC, a SaaS provider of telematics and vehicle data analytics for automotive OEMs. The acquisition will strengthen Delphi's software, data management and telematics capabilities to support OEM customers and accelerate Control-Tec's growth under Delphi's global footprint.

Descartes Systems Group acquired Oz Development, Inc., a U.S.-based provider of application integration solutions for SMBs, to strengthen its e‑commerce fulfilment and supply chain automation capabilities. The deal (approximately US$29.5 million in cash) brings Oz's domain expertise and customer base into Descartes' Global Logistics Network and extends its reach into the SMB e‑commerce market.

Industrial Inspection & Analysis, Inc. (IIA), a national industrial inspection and testing services provider headquartered in Atlanta, acquired The QC Group, Inc., which will operate under the legal name QC Group, LLC. The acquisition adds QC Group’s four laboratories and capabilities in contract dimensional inspection, reverse engineering and nondestructive testing (including access to IIA’s NADCAP- and DLA-certified Sunnyvale lab), positioning IIA to expand service breadth and capacity for customers across aerospace, defense and manufacturing end markets.

Arlington Precision Components, a newly formed platform of Rift Valley Equity Partners, has acquired the assets of Arlington Machine and Tool Company. AMT is a precision CNC machining manufacturer based in Fairfield, New Jersey, serving aerospace, defense, semiconductor and healthcare markets; the deal creates a platform to expand capabilities in close-tolerance machined components.

ParkerGale Capital completed a control investment in Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP), a Brisbane, California-based aviation information and technical-publishing business. The founder, Caroline Daniels, exited and management invested alongside ParkerGale; Charles Picasso was named CEO and ParkerGale said it will pursue international expansion and add-on acquisitions to grow the business.

ALPHAEON Corporation has agreed to acquire substantially all assets of LENSAR, Inc. in a transaction valued at up to $59 million in cash, stock and assumed debt. The deal brings LENSAR’s femtosecond cataract laser technology into ALPHAEON’s lifestyle healthcare portfolio and expands ALPHAEON’s ophthalmology offering for its global network of ophthalmologists.

Cvent, Inc. (NYSE: CVT), a leading cloud-based event management platform, acquired Alliance Tech, an Austin-based event technology solutions provider, in a transaction that closed on November 2, 2015. Carter Morse & Mathias served as Alliance Tech's exclusive financial advisor; the acquisition expands Cvent's event technology capabilities in check-in/badging, attendance tracking, lead retrieval and event analytics.

Broadridge Financial Solutions acquired privately-held QED Financial Systems, a provider of investment accounting software, data management and outsourced accounting services for institutional investors and asset managers. The purchase expands Broadridge's front- and back-office capabilities for the asset management industry; terms were not disclosed. QED is based in Marlton, New Jersey and had 47 associates at the time of the announcement.

Front Nine Capital, LLC acquired Mainly Monograms, Inc., a West Nyack, New York-based distributor and custom embroiderer/screen-printer of athletic apparel and promotional products. The transaction closed on October 1, 2015; Front Nine Capital targets middle-market investments with a focus on the custom apparel industry.

Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC (MMA) has acquired Dawson Insurance Agency, a 98-year-old family-owned insurance agency based in Fargo, North Dakota. Dawson Insurance generates $10 million in revenue and has 58 employees who will join MMA's upper Midwest region; the deal gives MMA entry into the North Dakota market.

IBM announced on November 3, 2015 that it has acquired Austin-based cloud software developer Gravitant. Gravitant’s cloud brokerage and hybrid-cloud management technology will be integrated into IBM Global Technology Services and offered as a SaaS capability to strengthen IBM’s hybrid cloud and cloud-brokerage offerings.

Quality Systems, Inc. (NextGen Healthcare) agreed to acquire HealthFusion Holdings, Inc. for $165 million plus up to $25 million in contingent consideration to accelerate cloud-based development and expand its ambulatory services offerings. HealthFusion, a San Diego-based developer of the MediTouch cloud EHR and practice management platform, serves over 3,000 practices (6,000+ subscribers), had an annualized revenue pace above $30 million and employed about 140 people.

SP Express acquired TMP Direct, a 130-seat customer contact and fulfillment center in Mount Olive, New Jersey, expanding SP Express' distribution and customer care capabilities. The acquisition increases SP Express' distribution center network to seven locations across the U.S. and Europe and adds inbound/outbound multi-channel customer care services and integrated order fulfillment for its e-commerce clients.

West Monroe Partners has acquired Etherios, a Platinum Salesforce Consulting Partner, with 7 Mile Advisors acting as exclusive sell-side advisor. Etherios' teams in Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas joined West Monroe's CRM practice effective October 26, 2015—creating a CRM team of more than 125 professionals—and the deal was reported to have been completed with Etherios coming from Digi International for approximately $9 million.

Deluxe Corporation has acquired Datamyx LLC, a Boca Raton–based provider of marketing analytics and tri-bureau data solutions, from private equity firm Halyard Capital. The acquisition will expand Deluxe’s marketing services and technology platform for financial institutions by integrating Datamyx’s Intelidata Express analytics and targeting capabilities.

Aptean has completed the acquisition of Medworxx Solutions Inc., a Toronto-based provider of clinical patient flow, compliance and education software used by more than 350 hospitals internationally. The acquisition gives Aptean an entry into the healthcare vertical and expands its enterprise software capabilities for hospital and acute-care customers.

Rapid7, Inc. acquired RevelOps, Inc. d/b/a Logentries for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $68 million, consisting of about $36 million in cash and $32 million in Rapid7 equity. The acquisition adds Logentries' cloud-based machine data search, log management, and forensics capabilities to Rapid7's security data and analytics platform to improve incident detection, investigation, and compliance offerings.

Hyland Software, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, has acquired LawLogix, a Phoenix-based SaaS provider of HR compliance and immigration process management solutions. Vista Point Advisors served as financial advisor to LawLogix in the transaction. The deal adds immigration and workforce-compliance capabilities to Hyland's enterprise content management product suite.

Ansaco, LLC, a privately held family office, has acquired Johnson & Hoffman (J&H), a Long Island–based precision metal stamping manufacturer, including the firm's Carle Place, New York facility. Ansaco said it intends to work with existing employees and provide resources to grow J&H's manufacturing capabilities and operations.

Fallon Health, through its subsidiary UltraBenefits, has acquired Group Insurance Service Center, Inc. (GISC), a third-party administrator based in Pembroke, Massachusetts. The acquisition adds roughly 17,000 members to Fallon's self-insurance business (expanding UltraBenefits' membership from 42,000 to 59,000) and strengthens the organization's capabilities in the self-insurance/TPA marketplace.

Raytheon Company has acquired Herndon, Virginia-based Foreground Security, a provider of security operations centers (SOCs), managed security services and cybersecurity professional services. The deal — which creates Raytheon Foreground Security (RFS) — expands Raytheon's managed security capabilities across federal, international and commercial markets; Foreground has approximately 165 employees.

Hub International Limited has acquired the assets of Johnson & Wood Insurance Services, Inc., a Carlsbad, California-based multi-line insurance agency. Johnson & Wood's leadership will join Hub California as the firm continues to expand its geographic footprint and product capabilities in commercial, personal and employee-benefit insurance lines. Terms were not disclosed.

Dot Family Holdings, with a minority investment from Svoboda Capital Partners, has acquired Grabber Construction Products, a value-added distributor of fasteners and related accessories. Grabber, founded in 1967 and headquartered in Highland, Utah, operates 26 U.S. locations and two Canadian locations and will partner with the buyers to continue growth and preserve its customer-focused culture.

AP Emissions Technologies, LLC has acquired Eastern Catalytic (Eastern Manufacturing, Inc.), a Langhorne, Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of catalytic converters and emission components. The acquisition brings together complementary product portfolios and manufacturing capabilities — Eastern operates a 115,000 ft² manufacturing facility and a 102,000 ft² distribution center with about 125 employees — and Angle Advisors served as Eastern's exclusive advisor.

Town and Country Financial Corporation (TCFC) has agreed to acquire West Plains Investors, Inc., the holding company for Premier Bank of Jacksonville, in an all-cash transaction. Premier had roughly $196 million in assets and four branches; the combined company will have projected assets exceeding $700 million and the deal is subject to customary closing conditions, regulatory approval, and WPI shareholder approval.

Evolving Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOL) has acquired RateIntegration, Inc., d/b/a Sixth Sense Media, a Durham, North Carolina–based provider of real-time analytics and mobile marketing solutions for wireless carriers. The all-cash deal (~$10.0 million in two payments) is intended to accelerate Evolving Systems' move into mobile marketing and advertising by combining Sixth Sense Media's Real-time Lifecycle Marketing platform with Evolving Systems' activation and mobile data enablement products.